Dress Code Question

Gregory B

My wife and I are taking the trip down the Rhine leaving from Amsterdam on July 18th. There are two formal occasions on the trip in which it is suggested that men wear a coat and tie. Packing a coat takes up a fair amount of space...so two questions:
1) Anyone have an idea as to approximately what % of the men will wear a coat and tie on the more formal occasions?
2) Would one be out of place if they wore slacks and a sweater?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

Greg Carlsted

Claudia Sails

1) No way for anyone to predict. Our first cruise in the summer about half or more of the men wore sport coats and/or ties for special occasion dinners. On the Rhine/Moselle in Oct virtually none. Lots of dress slacks, long sleeve dress shirts and pullover sweaters - some with ties.

2) You'd be fine. As long as the guidance says "suggested" no one's going to force you to wear a coat/tie.

Two points for free:

You can always hand carry a sport coat on the plane with you and stow in the overhead. A nice light weight blend that doesn't wrinkle works well. Can be handy if the plane is cold which they typically are on those overnight flights to Europe.

Even in the summer on a river cruise you'll want some sort of jacket or sweater if you plan to spend time up on the sun deck in the evening. It can be cool there especially if the ship is underway which is a pretty normal time to head out for the next port.

TARA5

Hi... I've been on another Tauck River Cruise Budapest and the dress code was not so stringent. I don't remember the coat and tie thing, but it is probably because Tauck does exclusive dinners in Palaces, etc. I do think men wore their coat and ties. They all looked very dapper as did the women. I would not worry about it. It was my first Tauck and River Cruise. It was a wonderful experience. We are looking forward to our 2nd River Cruise Amsterdam in August.

tauck12

I have gone with the recommendations. If they want coat and tie that,s what they get. Europe as you will see have not gone to sloppy dressing like the U.S. and out of respect for their culture I try to accommodate. If Europe folks come to my club and coat an tie I would hope they would honor. Cheers

wchrestman

Just returned from The Rhine, Swiss Alps and Amsterdam trip. Dress code was very relaxed. Casual attire during the day and most nights everyone wore snappy casual. The only time you needed nicer outfits was the two special occasion dinners - castle and last night. Most nights you saw everything from resort wear to nice slacks and top.

British

wchrestman wrote:

Just returned from The Rhine, Swiss Alps and Amsterdam trip. Dress code was very relaxed. Casual attire during the day and most nights everyone wore snappy casual. The only time you needed nicer outfits was the two special occasion dinners - castle and last night. Most nights you saw everything from resort wear to nice slacks and top.

Ok, so now someone has to describe what 'snappy' is compared to resort casual, casual attire, nicer outfits etc. Truely, surely there are blurred lines here.

Grannyjoe

So on the special occasion dinners did men wear a sports coat?

AllanD

We just returned from the southbound Rhine, Swiss Alps & Amsterdam trip. Most men wore a sport coat, with or without a tie, for the captains dinner, the final dinner, and the Castle dinner. I would say the Castle dinner was the most formal. Ladies wear ranged from dresses to dressy pants and tops on those nights.
I would describe "snappy" casual as nice pants and collared shirts for men, nice pants and tops for ladies.
I think as long as you are wearing something nicer than jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers for dinner you are fine.

British

AllanD wrote:

We just returned from the southbound Rhine, Swiss Alps & Amsterdam trip. Most men wore a sport coat, with or without a tie, for the captains dinner, the final dinner, and the Castle dinner. I would say the Castle dinner was the most formal. Ladies wear ranged from dresses to dressy pants and tops on those nights.
I would describe "snappy" casual as nice pants and collared shirts for men, nice pants and tops for ladies.
I think as long as you are wearing something nicer than jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers for dinner you are fine.

I think you hit the nail on the head!